Gravity perception in cerebellar patients

Progress in Brain Research
Alexander A TarnutzerDominik Straumann

Abstract

Patients with midline cerebellar atrophy typically suffer from impaired postural balance. We asked whether this deficit is, in part, caused by a deficient perception of body position relative to gravity, and therefore measured the subjective visual vertical (SVV) in patients with degeneration predominantly of the midline cerebellar structures (n=11) and age-matched healthy human subjects (n=9). On a motorized turntable, subjects were placed in different roll positions [0, 75 degrees right ear down (RED), 75 degrees left ear down (LED)] and had to align a luminous arrow with the perceived earth-vertical. Both SVV deviations and intra-individual SD of SVV adjustments were not significantly different between patients and age-matched controls. Our findings suggest that the perception of verticality in patients with cerebellar ataxia may only deteriorate in a more advanced stage of the disease. To which degree the deterioration of perceived vertical is caused by a collateral vestibular impairment, awaits further clarification.

Citations

Jan 27, 2017·Journal of Movement Disorders·Kaoru Takakusaki
Oct 5, 2013·Attention, Perception & Psychophysics·Marco BacciniStefano Baldassi
Apr 30, 2020·Journal of Neurophysiology·O WhiteF Crevecoeur

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